A New Quest
by BenboldFurey
Summary: After "the ship of the dead." Its time for a new quest. Our original gang, Magnus, Samirah, Alex, Blitz and hearthstone endeavor on a quest to find another stolen item. Fierrochase


Summons from a god are never good. Summons from a god who wants to kill you is even worse. So, naturally, the first thing I get in the morning is a raven with a message telling me to be in Aegir's hall by sundown. I'm not sure what to expect since Odin never really got back to me about paying Aegir his sample of Kvasir's mead.

Did he still want to kill me? Probably. Did Ran still want to kill me? Definitely. Still, I couldn't ignore them. That would make things worse.

Sam and Alex were waiting for me at the Hotel Valhalla docks.

"Hi." I called gloomily to them, "I have a boat."

I reached into my pocket for the handkerchief that would transform into a boat, but Alex stopped me.

"We're taking a Valhalla boat. We can't risk this boat being too yellow, can we Sam?"

Samirah grinned and took a plain white hanky from a pile. "No, we cannot!"

I felt my cheeks go red but left my own ship in my pocket.

"Any idea why Aegir wants to see you?" Sam asked. I shook my head.

"No more than you. Maybe about Kvasir's mead? Maybe to kill me? No idea."

"I think he wants to kill you," said Alex, examining her fingernails. "I understand that. I mean, if I want to I can do that every day, but poor Aegir. . .well, some people never get the satisfaction."

"Nah, you know you love me."

She smiled grudgingly and took my hand. "Yes. Somehow, I do."

"And we're off!" shouted Sam, and the boat lurched forward. Alex let go of my hand and strode to the front of the ship, peering through the spray that flew out the bow of the ship.

"How long's this going to take?"

"A couple of hours to reach a safe drop point."

"Perfect."

She took Sandman, a book I had insisted she read, out of her bag and sat down in the shelter of the bow.

Sam and I sat next to each other on one of the rowing benches. I hate rowing. Halfborn had once convinced me to take the Whitewater Rafting experience, which is basically rowing upstream for an hour then battling other einherjar at the head of the river.

"How's your family?" I asked Sam. She pursed her lips.

"Well. . .they're perplexed about having a green haired relative. Still, they treat Alex a lot better than her father did."

I remembered my dream from ages ago, Alex's dad standing over her, furious and terrifying. You have chosen to be trash. Every time I remembered it, I wanted to find Mr. Fierro and smack him with a baseball bat.

"How are Blitz and Hearth getting to Aegir's hall?" Sam asked, bringing me back to the present.

"Uh, they just said they'd meet us there."

Sam nodded slowly.

"Also, how have your shapeshifting lessons been going?"

Samirah sniffed. "They haven't. I haven't tried it since Naglfar. Alex has been too busy."

"Want to try now? I have nothing to do."

Sam shrugged. "Sure."

For the next half hour, I sparred with Sam. Well, to be honest, Jack sparred with Sam, I called out animals for her to change into, though it was hard to think with Jack singing the theme songs to every TV show he had ever watched.

I was tempted to put him into pendant form, but he had worked hard during the lessons, so it would probably make me more tired than I already was, and I wanted to be alert when I met the deity of the waves.

Finally, we reached the part of the ocean that Aegir used to pull ships down into his hall. We waited there for five minutes before the whirlpool sucked them down into Aegir's hall. When my vision cleared, an angry sea god was standing before the boat, tapping his foot impatiently, which shook the walls.

"Finally!" he boomed. The world spun, and Aegir shrunk to about human size. There was a noticeable absence of daughters since last time, which I appreciated.

"Lord Aegir!" Sam said, bowing. I followed her example. Alex leaned against our mast and inclined her head, probably the closest thing to respect as the Aegir would get from her.

"My lord Aegir, what have you summoned me for?" I asked him. Aegir's scowl lines deepened.

"We will discuss over dinner. Come! Eldir should have dinner ready by now."

I didn't like it. A god who wanted to postpone talking about his problems? Unusual. None the less, Samirah, Alex and I followed Aegir to his gigantic dining table. Next to each other sat Blitz and Hearth, talking in sign language.

We silently sat down next to them, all of us on the one side of the table.

"Hi." I said to them. Blitz jumped as though he hadn't noticed us sit down.

"Kid! How are you?"

I shrugged. "Getting on. What're we here for?"

"I don't know. I'm a bit worried, though. Summons from a god usually ends in a quest."

Hearthstone clapped his hands to get our attention.

 _What happened to A-E-G-I-R- S cauldron?_

I looked to the corner of the hall, where the gigantic cauldron had stood during our last visit. It wasn't there anymore.

Then, with a bang, the kitchen doors opened, ant Eldir rushed out, balancing several plates. The cook muttered as he placed the dishes in front of us,

"Vegetarian. . ." He placed a plate of falafel in front of me.

"Green Hair . . ." He placed another dish in front of Alex, who wrinkled her nose and subtly pushed her plate away from her.

Aegir sat at the head of the table and watched us eat. He only prodded restlessly at his own food.

When we finished, he sat in silence, apparently not noticing we were done.

"Lord Aegir?" Sam said. The giant started and looked around.

"Oh, you're finished. . .good. Very good." Alex rolled her eyes. Sam determinedly continued conversing. "You summoned us here. I'm assuming you didn't want to just enjoy dinner with us."

Aegir seemed to deflate. He rubbed his eyes, sighed and moved in his seat.

"I suppose you're right. Well, I need your help."

"Shocker." Alex muttered under her breath.

Aegir narrowed his eyes but doggedly continued.

"My cauldron has been stolen." If he expected a reaction, he was disappointed.

"Do you know who stole it, Lord Aegir?" Blitzen asked. Aegir shook his head. His missing cauldron seemed to make him very uncomfortable.

"That's your job to find out! You need to get it back!"

 _Another quest?_ Hearthstone signed.

 _Better than capturing Loki in a walnut shell._ Sam replied. It was difficult to argue with that.


End file.
